Planning your speaker build: the checks before you order anything (Beginner Guide, Part 2)

Part 2 of 8 of the NB Audio beginner guide to speaker building. Start at Part 1 and the series contents.

Before you buy a woofer or cut a sheet of timber, work out what you're building and where it'll go. It sounds obvious. It's also the step that saves you from finishing two lovely boxes that don't fit beside the TV.

Expansion Guide 1 walks you through a first project plan, from one sentence to one page.

The brief

Write the job down in one sentence, then mark out the space the boxes can take with tape or a cardboard box, and sit there to check it. The guide follows one made-up desk pair from start to finish, so you can see each decision made.

The trade-offs

Pick the route that matches what you want to learn: follow a documented design, change one, or develop your own. Then check the design's information is complete, your amplifier suits it (from its manual, not the front panel), and decide what you expect from the bass.

The plan

Price the finished pair, not one cabinet. List who'll do each job. Compare two candidate designs against your firm limits, and put the whole thing on one page before you order.

Who it's for

It's written for a first build. You need a tape measure, paper, a pencil and your amplifier's model number. You don't need any measuring software yet.

What it won't do is let "the best sound possible" stand in for a plan, or let an unknown count as a pass.

Prefer Kindle? It's on Amazon.

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Previous: Part 1: Speaker building in seven steps, from plan to first listen (Beginner Guide, Part 1)
Next: Part 3: Choosing speaker drivers: from parts list to a checked order (Beginner Guide, Part 3)